Terrible Things
by color-me-fabrays
Summary: "And son I'm only telling you this because life can do terrible things"
1. Chapter 1

_By the time I was your age_

_I'd give anything _

_To fall in love truly was all I could think._

Quinn stood at the bottom of a carpeted staircase and cleared her throat.

"Micah!" She winced as her voice echoed through the staircase; she hadn't meant to be so loud. A slightly muffled teenage voice replied from the top of the stairs.

"Yeah Mom?"

"Are you busy?"

"Nope."

"Okay good. Can you come down here?" There was a loud crash and a string of cuss words followed by the sound of an opening door. The blonde laughed as she turned to walk to a black faux leather couch. As she sat she reached over to an end table and picked up a photo. It was of a blithe-looking pair; her and a brunette. They were standing in the snow, wrapped in each other's arms. Quinn gave a dolorous smile before returning it to its place to turn to her son. He had just sat down across from her on a chair that matched the couch she was on. She looked at him for a while, studying his face. There was a strong resemblance between him and the brunette in the photo. The boy's hair was nearly identical to that of the woman, while his eye color was an exact duplicate. He flashed his thought-filled mother a smile and it was like a mirrored image. The smile was wide and genuine, revealing perfect teeth. It caused a slight wrinkle beneath his eyes, both of which shone with the smile.

"Did you just want to stare at me or…" he trailed off with a soft chuckle as his mother snapped out of her daze.

"Right, sorry Micah. Okay… so you're sixteen now-" The boys brown eyes widened drastically as he cut her off.

"Oh no. If this is turning into 'the talk' then uh," he stood up and began to back away.

"Oh heavens no. Sit your ass back down. Good, okay. Now as I was saying, you're sixteen now so you must be interested in girls, or boys. Whatever makes you happy."

"Girls, and you just said this wasn't going to be the talk."

"It isn't. Now let me finish. You're interested in girls, so I need to tell you a story. It's really long so I won't get it all out today. Before you ask, yes you can get some food before I start. Grab me an apple."

He hopped up and walked past her into the kitchen. He grabbed a bowl from a cabinet and scooped out some ice cream before making popcorn and retrieving a green apple from a chrome fridge. Returning to his seat, he got comfortable before tossing the apple to the blonde who in return handed him a picture frame. At first he looked at her in confusion, but then he glanced at the photo. It was of her and brunette again, and all he could do was smile. If it was another one of those stories, he could listen for days on end.

"I'm going to start from the beginning this time." The softness in her voice and tears in her eyes betrayed that her mind was somewhere else. Micah nodded and opened his mouth to respond, but before he could she started speaking again.


	2. Chapter 2

Rachel stood at her locker and adjusted her argyle sweater before smiling at herself in her small locker mirror. Today had been a good day. She had only been slushied once and none of the Cheerios has made any snide remarks. Well, Santana had shot her a cruel glare, but that had earned her a quick elbow in the ribs from both Quinn _and_ Brittany.

It might have only been the second week of school, but Rachel felt like this year would be fantastic. Hardly anyone was making fun of her and Quinn was even protecting her. Or that was what it seemed like at least. Maybe everyone had finally realized how talented she was. Yes, that must be it. The school had finally accepted that she was the best one there. Only the jealous ones would still torture her. As her thoughts progressed her smile grew until it was a full Rachel Berry beam. She closed her locker and strutted to Quinn's. There was a very strange look in the blonde's eyes that Rachel couldn't quiet place, but she figured it was just admiration.

"Hello Quinn. I have noticed that you have been much nicer to me in the past couple of weeks. While I realize that this is mostly out of admiration, I still wanted to thank you."

"A-admiration?" Quinn closed her locker and tried to walk away, but Rachel was right there with her. "No definitely not. I just… you annoy me, okay? I don't want to be around you." The blonde kept looking away and quickening her steps, so much so that the shorter girl was nearly at a jog just to keep up.

"Quinn, you wouldn't even let Santana call me any derogatory terms. You're protecting me."

"I really have no idea what you're talking about. Look, I don't have time for this. You made me late for class." With that she turned into the nearest room, leaving Rachel alone in the hall. Rachel realized this new school-wide admiration was bigger than she had thought. Even _cheerleader Quinn Fabray_ was tripping over words in her presence. She hadn't even been able to make eye contact with her. Maybe Rachel should start handing out autographed photos. Yes, she would do it! She could only imagine the joy on her fans' faces. Finally she reached class only to receive a less than amused glare from her teacher.

"Sorry sir, it won't happen again."

/

_Admiration?_ Quinn was too busy replaying the conversation in her head to even think about physics. Out of all the words Rachel could have used, she had to have chosen admiration? The blonde couldn't decide if Rachel knew, or actually thought Quinn was some sort of fan. Knowing Rachel, she really thought it was because of her talent.

Or maybe it was.

Quinn didn't know why she had fallen so hard for the diva, but she had. Maybe it was the fact that she oozed confidence, or her tendency to wear really short skirts. Her voice definitely had something to do with it. Who could not fall for such a talent? Every time the shorter girl sang a note, Quinn got a new wave of chills. And Rachel was actually more self-assured this year than she had ever been before, so maybe she would sing another solo today. Quinn could only hope.

By the time Quinn had begun paying attention to the lesson, the bell was about to ring. Her teacher assigned homework just before the bell rang and Quinn began the walk to Glee Club. She was dreading it today, because Glee meant Rachel and Rachel meant speechlessness. If she didn't cut this out soon, everyone would notice. It amazed her that Santana hadn't already noticed, or said something if she had noticed.

The blonde walked into the choir room and sat toward the middle, hoping maybe Rachel wouldn't notice her amongst everyone else. She began silently begging her fellow Glee-clubbers to sit in the empty seat next to her, but she had no such luck. As everyone filed in, they seemed to want to fill everyone seat but the one next to Quinn. Santana and Brittany sat behind her, giggling amongst themselves, while Mercedes and Kurt sat in front of her. Sam, Puck and Finn filled the seats to her right, and Mike and Tina sat to her left, but a few seats away. By the time Rachel finally strutted in, nearly every eat was filled but the one to Quinn's left. The shorter girl looked at her seating options briefly before deciding on the one next to Quinn. The blonde had to fight not to turn, stare and memorize her completely. Mr. Schue had just walked in overenthusiastically, and was vest-clad like every other day. And as usual, Rachel listened intently to his familiar sectionals rant. Once again he had decided that they needed to "mix it up" and "try something different." Quinn didn't care. She just wanted Rachel to sing.

Mr. Schue, finally, stopped talking, and Rachel had moved to the front of the room. Sam was with her and was sitting next to her on a stool. He had his guitar on his lap and had begun to play a song Quinn didn't memorize. She could hardly recognize the words; each note was so paralyzing beautiful that Quinn could hardly put each one together into words. Finally she managed to compose herself enough to catch the last part of the song:

Find me, here in your arms  
>Now I'm wondering where you've always been<br>Blindly, I came to you  
>Knowing you'd breathe new life from within<br>You sleep, here in my arms  
>Where the world just shuts down for a while<br>Blindly, you came to me  
>Finding peace and belief in this smile<br>Find some peace and belief in this smile

The song was over far too soon, but at least it meant Rachel would be next to her again. However, as Quinn watched Sam put his guitar away – she was being careful not to look at Rachel for too long – she had a ground breaking idea.


	3. Chapter 3

Rachel stood in the hallway, passing out papers to anyone who would take one. Most people took one glance at it before crumpling it up and throwing it in the trash or just dropping it. Many of them laughed before showing their friends, and quite often people would ignore Rachel completely. The brunette spotted Quinn walking towards her, clearly confused about the abundance of balled up papers, and smiled. Finally, someone who would stop pretending to hate her. The taller girl stopped in front of Rachel, who thrust a piece of paper in her direction.

"Would you like an autographed photo, Quinn?" Rachel watched the girl intently, hoping Quinn of all people would be so kind as to accept the picture.

"Um…sure. Sure thing." There was a hint of indecision in her voice, but Rachel would take whatever she could get. Quinn took the photo and tucked it between two of her notebooks. She began to turn away, but then quickly spun back around to face Rachel again.

"Hey Rachel, have you, um.. have you talked to Shelby lately?" The brunette glanced at the floor, shook her head and let out a feeble, "Why?"

Quinn regretted asking as soon as she saw the other girl's eyes. They were beautiful even in their sorrow. The sheer anguish that had surfaced in them revealed how betrayed she felt by Shelby. Quinn realized that Rachel must thing she had brought up her mother to torture her. Guilt immediately filled her, for what she had just asked and for every cruel comment she had made in the past.

"I wanted to know if you had heard anything about Beth." Once Quinn had made her intentions clear, a little of the pain in Rachel's eyes faded.

"Oh. Well my fathers talked to Shelby two weeks ago. Beth is doing quite well. They informed me that she took her first few steps recently." Quinn nodded and smiled.

"Thanks so much Rachel. I have to go talk to someone, but I'll see you at Glee club. Oh, and thanks for the autograph." She turned and walked off, searching for a certain wide-mouthed blonde.

/

Rachel watched as Quinn walked away and smiled as she saw the blonde stop a freshman from throwing away their copy of the photo. For a moment she had been terrified. Quinn was being so nice lately, but it had looked like she was about to torment Rachel again. Fortunately, that hadn't been the case, though. Just as the brunette turned to head to class, she saw Finn. She handed him one of the photos and smiled.

"What's this?"

"An autographed photo. I am passing them out to my fans. It seems as if the school has recently discovered how talented I am, so to show my appreciation I plan on passing out these photos for the next few days. I'll always have some on me, also, in case a fan needs one."

"I don't need one of these, I have the real thing."

"But Finn, that isn't the point. It's to express my appreciation to my fans." He continued to stare blankly at her. "Quinn took one."

"Quinn's a bitch."

"She's been nice to me lately.. she's been defending me and-"

"It's an act. You shouldn't be talking to her; she's just going to make your life hell like she did last year and the year before. "

"But Finn, she's been really nice. I was actually thinking about doing a duet with her. Our voices would sound very-"

"No. No Rachel, you don't understand. Why won't you just listen to me? She's not nice and you won't do a duet with her. Get it? I don't want you talking to her."

"Oh.. um.. okay. If you think she's pretending.."

"I do." With that, he stalked off to class, leaving Rachel to walk alone to hers.

/

"Sam!" The boy turned around, looking for whoever had just called him. A look of confusion flashed across his face when he saw that it was Quinn.

"Uh, yeah? What's up Quinn?" She sped up and stopped in front of him, quickly covering the half-visible photo of Rachel with a notebook.

"Can you do me a favor? I need to learn how to play guitar. I know you don't have a lot of time, but I can pay you. Just name your price." As time went on he began to look more and more confused. Quinn had such a serious look on her face that he couldn't help but laugh.

"Quinn you don't have to pay me. We can start Friday, after Glee Club. Is that a good time for you?" She nodded. "And you have a guitar?" Another nod. "Okay, and can I ask why you so desperately need to learn?"

"I'll tell you on Friday. Thanks a lot Sam. I'll see you after school. Get to class! You better not get detention." Laughing, she walked to her own class.

/

"Why did you need to learn how to play guitar?"

"You'll see Micah. You've got your mothers patience." She laughed and smiled at the memories for a moment.

"What happened after you asked Sam to teach you how to play?"

"Not much for the rest of the day. Until we got to Glee club, that is."

"What happened in Glee club?"

"Let me speak and you'll see."

/

Finally school was over. Rachel had been in a rush to get out of her math class, so she was the first one in the choir room. The rest of the club began filing in, taking their usual seats. Quinn sat next to Rachel, but as Finn walked in Rachel moved a seat away from the blonde. She didn't want Finn to get mad, and maybe he was right about Quinn. The other girl had been so cruel just last year, so what could have made her change so drastically over the summer? Rachel couldn't think of anything, so Finn must be right. Quinn looked hurt, but Rachel tried to ignore it. Finn sat between the girls and put his arm over the back of Rachel's seat. He was saying something to her about football, but she couldn't help but be distracted by Quinn. It was hard for her to believe that she would pretend to be nice. Out of all of the people at the school, Quinn had been the only one to want to take an autographed picture, and she had even stopped others from destroying their copies. It didn't seem like she was being fake, but Finn knew her better than Rachel did. He was still talking about football when Santana walked in and sat behind them. Suddenly Rachel felt a ball of paper hit the top of her head, and then about 20 of them fell around her. Taking a better look, she could see that they were pictures of her; autographed pictures of her. Just as she felt the tears coming, she heard Quinn's voice. The blonde was yelling now, and Santana was yelling back. Rachel tried to compose herself enough to turn and look at the two girls, who had both stood up.

"Why do you keep defending her, Fabray? She's a loser!"

"And you're a bitch! I don't see people picking on you! Call her a loser again, I dare you!"

"Hey Rachel, you're a loser." Quinn lunged, but Puck held her back. Brittany had a hand on Santana's arm, keeping her from going after the blonde. "Aw look at Quinn, defending man hands. I think it's time to get you a haircut, Quinn. Maybe you should go get some softball lessons too, because clearly you're a lesbian." The blonde froze for half a second, then jumped right back into the argument.

"No, I think that's you." Now it was time for someone to hold back Santana, who had, despite Brittany's touch, jumped at Quinn. Mike had his arms around her waist, holding her back, while Puck still held Quinn in place. They were yelling over each other now, making their words completely beyond understandable. Rachel sat stunned, and past confused. She knew, at least, that Quinn wasn't a lesbian. She couldn't be. This meant though, that Quinn wasn't pretending to be nice to her. She wouldn't do this far to be fake. Both Quinn and Santana were still yelling, and still fighting to get away from Puck and Mike, when Mr. Schue walked in. He stood stunned for a moment before telling them all to calm down. It took a little while but eventually everybody sat down and listened to what he had to say. It was honestly miraculous how he could ignore such an event to go right back into a discussion on show choir tactics.


	4. Chapter 4

Rachel caught Quinn just as the blonde was walking out of her second period class. It took her some effort to keep up with the taller girl, but she managed. As Quinn saw her, she did a double take and blushed a bit, her eyes slightly widening.

"Hi Quinn I- actually, could you slow down a little bit please? It's hard for me to keep up." The other girl nodded and slowed her pace so that Rachel could keep up without too much effort. "As I was saying, I wanted to thank you for Wednesday. It was very nice of you to defend me the way you did."

"It's no problem Rachel. Santana shouldn't have done that, and somebody needed to make sure she knew she was wrong."

"And that somebody was you. I had to thank you for that. Also, I was wondering if you wanted to stop by for dinner tonight. We're having a vegan casserole, and we would love for you to stop by. The two of us could play board games after or whatever you would like to do."

"T-tonight? I um.. well tonight I have something with Sam. I could try to stop by after though. I shouldn't be long with Sam; he's just showing me how to do something. So yeah, I would love to stop by. Board games sound great." Rachel smiled at Quinn and nodded quickly.

"Great! So I'll see you tonight." The brunette turned around to walk to her class, which they had just passed. She gave Quinn another quick smile before slipping into the room. It was rare for her to have peers at her house, so she was both excited and nervous. Everything would have to be perfect.

/

The last smile that Rachel had flashed Quinn made tonight's plans really hit her; she was going to the Berry's household for dinner. The blonde was both excited and terrified. What if Rachel's fathers didn't like her? What if she accidently said something offensive? What in the world would she wear? For the entire day, every possible scenario played out in her head. Before she knew it, the day was over and it was time for Glee club. Nothing interesting happened; Mercedes sang before Mr. Schue discussed more tactics they should use to win sectionals, which was fast approaching. When it was time to go, Rachel stopped Quinn just outside the door.

"Can you be at my house for six?" Quinn nodded and smiled.

"Yeah, I'll be there. I can't wait." Getting into her car, she stopped home to get her guitar before driving to Sam's house. She knocked on the door, and his father opened it. He looked different than the last time Quinn had seen him. There were dark circles around his eyes and he hadn't shaved in a while. His blonde hair was graying a little, and in general he just looked tired. Despite that, though, he was still just as enthusiastic as usual. His blue eyes lit up when he saw her.

"Quinn! We haven't seen you in a while! Come on in. How have you been?"

"I've been great Mr. Evans, thanks. How have you been?"

"Pretty good. The kids missed you." Sam stuck his out of the room and gave his father a disapproving look.

"Dad, leave her alone. Come on in Quinn." She smiled at Mr. Evans before walking into Sam's room. The walls were a soft yet masculine green, and the floor was a plush, off-white carpet. Everything was very neat and there were a lot of pictures about the room. Some of Sam and his siblings, some of him and his mother, and one of the entire family in Disney world. They sat on the carpeted floor across from each other, both with acoustic guitars resting on their laps. Sam laughed, causing Quinn to look around confused.

"What? What are you laughing at? Is there something on my shirt? Samuel! Cut it out!" The girl grabbed a pillow off of Sam's bed and threw it at him in an attempt to make him stop laughing at her.

"You're holding it backwards." Quinn looked down and realized that she was indeed holding the guitar backwards.

"Oops.. now teach me how to play."

"Not yet. First you have to tell me why you want to learn so badly. You told me that you would, so you have to." Quinn cursed under her breath. She had really hoped that he would forget about it, but he hadn't. This would be the first person she would be coming out to, and she wasn't sure it was a very good idea. Sam had always been supportive of Kurt, but he and Quinn had once dated. What if he was offended? She had to tell him though, because it was very clear that he wasn't teaching her anything unless she told him.

"You have to promise not to tell anybody. If you tell anyone, I will tell the entire school about Mr. Meowzer." She pulled an old, ratty stuffed lion off of Sam's bed and laughed at it. "Sam, his eye fell off"

"Yeah I know.. but I swear I won't tell anyone. Hey what're you doing?"

"Taking a picture just in case. Okay, so I'm gay and I sort of really like Rachel. I was hoping that maybe, if I knew how to play guitar, I could play a song for her and she would give me a chance."

"That's why you defended her in Glee club the other day? Santana was right?"

"Yes, but I never told Santana. She doesn't know that she's right."

"Don't tell anyone, but I'm gay too. I like Kurt."

"Really? I mean, obviously there are rumors but I never thought that they were true. Go for it, I bet he likes you too." Sam shook his head.

"No, I'm not his type. But let's get going." For the next hour he taught her how to hold the guitar and where to put her fingers. They laughed when she did something terribly wrong and even had a pillow fight. Quinn looked at her phone and realized that it was already 5:25.

"Shit! I'm going to be late!"

"Late for what?"

"Dinner. I'm supposed to be at her house for six and it's already nearly half past five." She let loose a spate of cuss words while gathering her things. "Thank you so much Sam. I'll be here again next Friday, right? Remember, don't tell anyone." As she walked out the door, she showed him the picture of Mr. Meowzer.

/

"Daddy, she'll be here. It just turned six; she probably is just running late."

"Baby, this has happened with other people, remember? I don't want you to get your hopes up."

"She will be here. Just give her 10 minutes."

/

"Fuck fuck fuck fuck! It's six. I am so late. Should I bring a gift? No, no I am already late." Quinn rushed to her car and sped to the Berry household. As she waited at the door, she smoothed her baby blue dress out. A tall black man opened the door, and he looked slightly smug.

"Uh.. hello Mr. Berry. Rachel invited me to dinner."

"Of course. Come on in Ms. Fabray. You can call me Zander, and this is my husband, Nicholas." He motioned to a short, pale man with glasses who looked less than amused. Rachel stood next to him, looking just as smug as Zander.

"I told you she would come."

"I am so sorry for being late. I was at Sam's and lost track of time. It took me forever to get ready, but I wanted to look nice."

"It's really no trouble, Quinn. Dinner will be ready in a few minutes." Zander walked into the kitchen with Nicholas close behind. Quinn looked around the house. She had been here once before, but never really took a good look around. There were pictures of Rachel from when she was a baby to last year's school picture. Quinn was astonished at how she had always been beautiful. Even as a child it was obvious that she would grow up to be stunning.

"Quinn, did you want to sit?" She spun around to see that Rachel was sitting at the table now, looking very amused at how intrigued Quinn was by the photos. The blonde nodded and sat down across from Rachel. Just moments later the Berry men walked in with food in tow. The four of them ate and talked. Zander told a few embarrassing stories about things Rachel had done when she was young, and Nicholas asked Quinn a few questions about school and her plans for the future. Quinn was surprised at how delicious the food was, and ate until she couldn't any longer. When they were done eating, the girls took the plates into the kitchen.

"There's not really much to do inside. Want to go for a walk?" Quinn nodded and Rachel led her outside. The sun was slowly lowering in the sky, but it was still quite warm out. They walked in silence for a while before Rachel spoke up.

"Why have you been so nice to me lately? You were never like this before. Finn said you're faking it to be even meaner."

"Finn has no idea what he is talking about. Over the summer I realized that I was being cruel for all the wrong reasons. You're an amazing person, and of all the people in that school, you deserve respect the most. I will continue to defend you until people realize that they're wrong."

"That's very nice of you, thank you. I'm glad that we can be friends."

"Me too." She smiled.

"And it's about time that you realize how amazing I am." Quinn looked at the brunette, shocked, and saw that she was joking. Laughing, she pushed the smaller girl. Rachel screamed and almost fell over. With a joking glare, she pushed Quinn back, who then fell onto someone's lawn. Rachel laughed at her, then looked up and stopped laughing.

"Oh shit."

"What?"

"We're about a mile and a half away from my house and uh.." She pointed toward the sky, which was now one big black cloud. Quinn swore, but the sound was muffled by a loud crash of thunder.

"Well get up Quinn! We have to get home!"

"Nope. I have come to terms with the fact that we will be soaked before we get there. I see no point in getting up if it's going to rain on us regardless."

"It might not if we go n-," Before Rachel could finish her sentence, the sky opened up above them. She opened her mouth in shock as the rain drenched her. Looking over, she saw that Quinn was still sitting on the grass, now laughing hysterically.

"This isn't funny!" Rachel had to yell over the sound of the pouring rain and thunder.

"Yes it is!" Rachel grabbed her hand and tried to pull her up, but Quinn was not about to be moved. Instead, the brunette fell onto the blonde. Quinn gasped and blushed, her eyes locked on Rachel's. The brunette made a dissatisfied noise and stood up.

"Come _on_ Quinn! If I get sick I won't be able to sing!"

"Fine, fine. Let's go," She stood up and began walking back towards Rachel's house. For some reason, though, Rachel wasn't following her. Looking back, she noticed that Rachel had actually backed up and had one hand over her mouth. Her eyes gave away that she was laughing, but Quinn couldn't figure out why. The blonde heard a noise that caused her to look back in the direction that she was walking. There was a car coming. She looked down at the street and saw that right next to where she was standing, a huge puddle had formed. Rachel looked horrified as Quinn grabbed her hand and pulled her so that they were standing next to each other just in time for the car to hit the puddle. Rachel pushed Quinn again, who laughed and ran away. They ran the whole way home, laughing at their predicament.


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N Sorry that it's taking forever to update, school sucks. Finally some real Faberry action in this one! **

* * *

><p><strong>4 weeks later<strong>

"Sam? It's not early! It's 11:30. I don't care if you're a teenage boy, that is not early by any means. Well sheesh, if you plan on talking to me like that then never mind. I wanted to know if you were doing Halloween with me and Rachel next weekend. A week from today is not short notice. You're grumpy in the morning. Well I wanted to be zombies but she wants to be kittens. No, you could be a dog or something. A golden retriever. Okay good. You're coming over today, right? I need help with that song. Yeah and we have to play Call of Duty so I can show you how the ladies do it. I've beat you before, I'll do it again. I am not a cheater! I am hanging up now. Be here in an hour. Bye." Quinn put her phone on the table next to her bed and grabbed her guitar. She started playing a song and began to hum along. About half way through the song, she messed up and cursed under her breath. This pattern continued for the hour it took Sam to arrive. He didn't even bother to knock and invited himself into her room. Quinn looked at him, flabbergasted, as he sat down on the hardwood floor a few feet in front of where she was sat on her bed.

"Sure Sam, come on in."

"Thanks for the invite Quinn. Now where are you stuck?" She played the song up until where she was having trouble, and he played through. Quinn quickly caught on and by dinner she had the entire song down pat. They walked down the stairs into the kitchen to make dinner and stood at the counter to eat bagel bites and French fries.

"You really shouldn't eat so much Sam. You'll lose your girlish figure. Wouldn't want to get fat." He laughed sarcastically and threw a fry at her, laughing genuinely when it got stuck in her hair.

"It's stuck isn't it?" He nodded, still laughing hysterically. The girl glared at him threw a bagel bite at him, which landed sauce-side first right in the middle of his head.

"Oh hell no." He grabbed a handful of ketchup-covered fries and threw them at her. She let out a gasp at looked down at her white shirt, which was now covered in ketchup. At once, they both grabbed handfuls of food and blindly threw them at each other. Blonde hair turned red with pizza sauce and ketchup, both having bits of French fries and cheese stuck there. The kitchen had turned into what looked like a bloody war zone by the time the doorbell rang.

"Sam, go get that."

"It's your house."

"You feel comfortable letting yourself in, so open the door." He jogged to the front door, picking food out of his hair as he did so. The doorbell rang again, so he quickened his pace.

"Sheesh, someone is impatient. Coming!" He opened the door and laughed. "Hi Rachel. Quinn's in the kitchen." Stepping aside, he motioned towards the kitchen. He had to hold back his laughter when Quinn saw Rachel walk into the kitchen. The blonde was sitting at the counter, still covered in food, eating what was left of the French fries. She blushed profusely and her eyes widened.

"Oh my gosh, Quinn. Everything is red. What happened here?"

"Sam started a food fight. French fries with ketchup and bagel bites."

"This is a mess. I just wanted to come over and see if the both of you wanted to go bowling, but clearly you can't go anywhere before you've showered and changed. I'll be back in an hour. Both of you best be ready by then.

"Yes ma'am," Sam saluted sarcastically, laughing when Rachel shoved him. She stormed out and he followed her, turning to Quinn just before walking out the door, "We'll be back." Forty-five minutes later he returned wearing clean clothes, his hair still wet from the shower. Quinn was seated on the living room couch, also recently showered. She was on the edge of her seat, an x-box controller in her hand, and was cursing at the screen.

"You suck."

"Shut up!" Without looking away from the television she pried one hand away from the controller to punch his bicep. "Look at what you did! I died!" She threw the controller at him and stormed away to the kitchen, continuing to curse under her breath. "What is taking her so long? I just want to go bowling. She said would be here in an hour and it has been fifty minutes. Rachel is never not early." Just as she finished her sentence, the doorbell rang. As if it were some sort of cue, she darted to the door, opening it immediately.

"I- that was quick. Were you waiting at the door?"

"Nope. Let's go, I'll drive."

/

"Yes! Strike!" Rachel laughed at Sam's enthusiasm as he did his signature "strike dance." It was a strange mix between the sprinkler and the running man, topped off with a Michael Jackson styled pelvic thrust. The girls laughed and covered their faces, mortified by the terrible dance move.

"Sam! People are staring!"

"I thought you liked attention, Rachel." She shook her head.

"Not that kind. Quinn take my turn, I am not standing up until people have stopped looking at us."

"You are going to regret that." Quinn laughed and picked up a ball, rolling it right into the gutter. Just as Rachel stood up to yell at Quinn about how she had ruined her score, the brunette's phone rang.

"Saved by the ring. It's Finn, hold on. Hello? At the bowling alley. No I told you we were going to be here. Yes, we. Quinn and Sam, I told yo- yes, I did. Finn why are you yelling at me? I told you I was going to be here! Why does it even matter? Fi- wait hold on. Guys I'll be outside." She hurried out the door, continuing to talk to Finn. The blondes stood stunned for a moment, neither really sure what was going on. With the slam of the door, Quinn was snapped out of her daze and hurried after Rachel. Stepping outside, she searched for the brunette and spotted her just turning around the corner of the building. As she walked in Rachel's direction she overheard more of her side of the conversation; "Finn! No, Finn, please. Don't. I didn't do anything wrong! Plea-,"

There was silence for a few seconds after Finn hung up. Quinn continued her hurried walk toward where Rachel was, and as she got closer she heard the other girl's sobs, accompanied by approaching footsteps. The brunette ran around the corner of the bowling alley, accidently smashing right into Quinn. Instead of walking away, though, she started sobbing into the blonde.

"He broke up with me," she spoke between sobs, "I didn't do anything wrong." Quinn gently stroked her hair, fighting the urge to cry with her.

"C'mon Rach, I'll bring you home. Everything is going to be okay, I promise."

/

They lay on Rachel's bed, Quinn practically holding her while her violent sobs slowly faded into the occasional whimper. She'd sniffle and wipe a tear away before saying something about how she hadn't done anything wrong. Seeing Rachel so vulnerable, her head resting on Quinn's shoulder, the blonde felt herself fall even more in love. She heard Rachel's breathing pick up as she hit another sobbing fit. Almost on instinct, Quinn kissed the top of her head to comfort her. Both girls froze at the contact, Rachel's sobs instantaneously stopping. To Quinn's surprise, the small girl didn't move away. Instead, she was silent for a moment, and then cleared her throat to speak.

"I know that you're in love with me." Quinn's heart started pounding, her face turning various shades of red. She hardly took a single breath as Rachel continued to speak. "I see the way that you look at me. The other day I heard you and Sam talking about me in the hallways, and I pretend that I don't see you defending me all the time. You smile differently when you see me than you smile any other time." She stopped talking to laugh; lightly at first, then more violently.

"W-what is so funny?"

"Your heart is beating so fast, Quinn." Pulling back to look at the blonde's face, she laughed even harder. "Oh my gosh, you're blushing! Quinn Fabray, you are blushing." She put a hand over her mouth to disguise the fact that she was still laughing, although it didn't work very well.

"Yeah well you're blushing too," Quinn added with a smug smile.

"I am doing no such thing!" Trying to prove her point, she turned to a mirror, only to see that she was, in fact, blushing. "Okay so maybe I like you a little bit. But I can't. Finn just broke up with me, and I don't intend on taking him back, but I'm not ready for another relationship." They were sitting cross-legged in front of each other now, their knees touching. "But I promise that when I'm ready, I'm all yours." Quinn couldn't help but smile like an idiot, her face turning brand new shades of red. She thrust her hand towards Rachel, each of her fingers balled into a fist, excluding only her pinky.

"Pinky swear."

"I have a better idea."

"And what is that?" Rachel didn't reply. Instead, she leaned forward slowly, raising her hand to lightly rest it on Quinn's cheek. For a few seconds they made soft eye contact before Rachel moved in closer. With a slight tilt of her head, she pressed her lips against Quinn's, her eyes drifting closed. After a very short-feeling few seconds, Rachel slowly pulled away. Quinn kept her eyes closed for a moment, before opening them to see a blushing Rachel, her lips pulled up in a shy smile. After taking a short while to regain her ability to breathe, the blonde spoke up.

"That was a much better idea."


End file.
